ICERAS

UK approach to Eritrean refugees: what is the reality on the ground? 2/11/2016  – 17:00 – 18:30 HRS.

Since the beginning of last year, Eritreans have made up the fourth largest group of asylum seekers in the European Union, and the second largest group to arrive in Italy by boat, after Syrians.

Until recently, the UK Home Office has been refusing the majority of asylum claims stating that Eritreans arriving in the UK are not in need of international protection based on a controversial report commissioned by the Danish Immigration Service last year. This left many wondering about the real situation inside Eritrea, especially as the vast majority of Eritreans seeking asylum in the UK were successful up until 2014. On 11 October 2016, the Home Office reversed its guidelines on assessing Eritrean asylum seekers once again after a UK court ruled that Eritreans who left the country illegally and/or evaded military service still face real danger upon return.

Venue:

Overseas Development Institute
203 Blackfriars Road
London SE1 8NJ
United Kingdom

Speakers:

Martin Plaut –  Author of Understand Eritrea; Fellow, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Mary Harper – Africa Editor, BBC World Service News

Mesghina Abraha – Ph.D. candidate in Development Studies, SOAS; Research associate, Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa (PENHA)

Georgia Cole – Joyce Pearce Junior Research Fellow, University of Oxford